


Tarnished Silver

by OctolingO



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:40:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25668352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OctolingO/pseuds/OctolingO
Summary: “There’s so many of them.” Mercedes said worriedly, watching as the bandits approached the Blue Lions.“We are much more powerful than they are.” Felix stated. “This fight will be simple.”“Don’t get too cocky, Felix.” Sylvain said. “We need to be on our guard.”“Rich words, coming from you.”
Relationships: Caspar von Bergliez & Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Tarnished Silver

“There’s so many of them.” Mercedes said worriedly, watching as the bandits approached the Blue Lions.

“We are much more powerful than they are.” Felix stated. “This fight will be simple.”

“Don’t get too cocky, Felix.” Sylvain said. “We need to be on our guard.”

“Rich words, coming from you.”

“Boys.” Ingrid scolded. “Don’t fight right now.” Felix rolled his eyes, but he stayed quiet. 

“Are we ready?” Byleth asked, the Sword of the Creator glowing in her hands. 

“We got this!” Annette exclaimed, doing a little jump. 

“I agree!” Ashe said with a timid smile. 

“Then let us fight.” Dimitri said. He pointed his lance at the enemy. “Charge!”

“How did we get separated?!” Annette shouted, ducking under a sword and firing off a slashing wave of magic.

“I suppose we got careless.” Ashe answered her, breathing hard as he continued to pick off the steadily growing wave of bandits. 

“Why won’t you just die?!” Annette muttered, shooting more magic. “It feels like every time we take one down, another takes its place! They just keep coming!”   
“Well we can’t give up now! His Highness and the Professor are counting on us!” Ashe let out a defiant shout as another arrow struck a bandit’s throat. Annette grit her teeth, sweat pouring down her face. The smells and sounds of blood and battle flooded her senses. Her feet were practically slipping in blood. 

“Annette!” She heard Sylvain yelling over the clanging of swords and twanging of bows. “Ashe! Are you two okay?”   
“I’ve been better!” Annette said at the top of her lungs. “We could use some help!”   
“We are trying to get to you!” That was Dimitri. “Hang on!”    
“We’re trying!” Annette did not hear a response, and she could only hope that the Lions were successfully plowing a pathway to her and Ashe. She rolled backwards as an axe swung towards her neck, this time shooting a fireball instead of a gust of wind. It worked just as well to eliminate the bandit. 

Slowly and steadily, the bandit’s numbers began decreasing. Though she was exhausted, Annette kept pushing and pushing until she could see glimpses of Garreg Mach uniforms from her fellow Blue Lions through the bandits. Behind her, she could still hear Ashe’s grunts as he fired his bow. 

The final bandit fell at last, courtesy of Dedue’s massive axe. 

“No one move!” Mercedes said. “I have to check for injuries.” 

“I didn’t get hurt.” Felix said with an eye roll, though he very clearly had a cut on his face. 

“N-Neither did I, I t-think.” Ashe volunteered, moments before he collapsed face first into the dirt. Annette saw with horror the two arrows protruding from his back, their black and white fletching revealing their bandit origins. Mercedes gasped, running to Ashe. Sylvain helped her roll the silver-haired boy onto his side and into a sitting position, though Ashe was clearly unconscious. 

“Hold his shoulders, from the front so I can get the arrows out.” Mercedes instructed, voice firm. Sylvain nodded and obeyed as Mercedes readied a hand glimmering with healing magic. She wrapped her other hand around one of the arrows, yanking it out and immediately beginning to heal the wound. Yanking the arrow out awoke Ashe with a sharp cry of pain, and he tried to recoil away from Mercedes. Sylvain’s grip was much stronger than Ashe was. 

“Hey, buddy.” Sylvain said. “Calm down. We’re healing you.”

“It hurts—” Ashe managed to gasp, coughing and staining Sylvain’s white undershirt with a bit of red, though the other boy didn’t seem to mind. 

“Stay strong, Ashe.” Dimitri urged. “There is only one other arrow to take out.” Ashe looked up slightly, pain-clouded eyes meeting Dimitri’s. 

“S-Sorry for being a s-setback, Your Highness—Ah!” Ashe cut himself off with a scream, arching his back as the other arrow was removed. Mercedes’ right hand, the one she was using for the healing, was covered in Ashe’s bright red blood as she set to work healing the second arrow wound. Annette watched, biting her lip nearly to the point of breaking the skin. A warm hand was put on her shoulder, and she looked up to see Dedue, for once not standing at Dimitri’s side. Dedue gave her a small, gentle smile, and Annette forced down her tears, doing her best to smile back at him, though she knew it looked fake. 

Mercedes finished healing, her face shining with perspiration. Annette winced—knowing firsthand how taxing magic was. Dimitri offered a hand to help Mercedes up: which the blonde gratefully accepted. Ashe sagged, eyelids slipping closed as his inside reknit. 

“Dedue, you may have to carry Ashe.” Mercedes told him. Dedue nodded, stepping away from Annette and picking up Ashe, bridal style. It would have been cute, had Ashe’s face not been so pale and had his uniform not been stained with blood. Annette, still a bit unsteady, opted to walk next to Sylvain. The red haired boy seemed surprised, but he allowed Annette to lean into him and even went so far as to put his arm around her shoulder. 

“If I go too far, tell me.” Sylvain whispered, bending down. 

“You know I would.” Annette said. Sylvain chuckled. 

“That I do.” 

“Ashe should be just fine, after a day or two of rest.” Manuela said with a glance at the sleeping boy on the cot next to her. The Blue Lions sighed in relief, save for Felix. “Professor, if you still must teach, I suggest you have one of your students take notes for Ashe.”

“I will.” Felix said, earning looks of shock. “What? I have the most readable handwriting.” An outright lie, as Dedue had the cleanest penmanship (Mercedes had the worst, surprisingly). 

“Alright.” Dimitri said, though the smirk on his face made it clear he did not come anywhere near buying Felix’s story. 

“We should let Ashe rest in silence.” Dedue said in his deep voice. The other Lions nodded, and Annette opened the door only to be greeted by the faces of Lindhart and Caspar. Lindhart, as usual, looked as if he just woke up, and Caspar looked concerned—a look he did not normally wear. 

“We came to check if Ashe was okay.” Caspar announced. 

“Correction: you wanted to see if Ashe was okay and you dragged me into it. I was sleeping.” Lindhart said, raising a finger. 

“He’s alright.” Annette said, smiling. “He’s sleeping now, but we can let you know when he wakes up.” 

“Okay then.” Caspar said, disappointed. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I brought a book for if he was awake.” He held up a copy of  _ Loog and the Maiden of Wind _ , blushing furiously. 

“And what kind of ‘wrong way’ could we take that?” Sylvain said with a smirk. 

“He means romantically.” Lindhart said, sounding incredibly bored. “Because apparently the two of them are ‘just friends.’” Caspar’s blush deepened. 

“Well, the book was a nice gesture, Caspar.” Dimitri said. “I am sure he would love to hear you read it once he is in slightly better health.”

“Of course.” Caspar said. He glanced around Annette’s shoulder at Ashe. “Well, bye then.”

“Bye!” Annette waved. Caspar turned and left, Lindhart following him. Annette shared a smirk with Sylvain as the Blue Lions left the infirmary.

A day and a half later, Ashe was deemed fit to walk around Garreg Mach, but he was still not allow to do anything too strenuous, which meant he would be unable to go on the mission his house was doing this weekend: something to do with a betrothal and Ingrid, which made very little sense to him. And, even more confusing, Dorothea was apparently going to accompany the Lions on the mission.

After being thoroughly smuggled in hugs, high-fives, and reprimands for scaring them, the Blue Lions had left for their mission. Strangely, Felix had done Ashe’s notes for him, so Ashe was currently sitting in the grass outside the House Commons, petting a cat with one hand and holding his notes with the other to keep them from blowing away. 

“Hey, Ashe.” Ashe startled as Caspar sat next to him. “Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare ya.” 

“It's okay, Caspar.” Ashe said with a characteristically sweet smile. “Is that  _ Loog and the Maiden of Wind _ ?” He asked, pointing at the leather-bound book in Caspar’s hands. Caspar nervously scratched the back of his neck, much like Sylvain did.

“Uh, yeah. It is.” He admitted. “I was wondering if you’d like to read it with me, but I can see that you’re busy—”

“I’m not too busy.” Ashe said, grabbing Caspar’s arm as the blue-haired boy stood up. “I’d love to read it with you.”

“Really?” Caspar’s face lit up. “Great!” He sat next to Ashe, opening the book to its first page. “So, I haven’t read this much, maybe only halfway through—”

“But the ending is the best part!” Ashe exclaimed. The loud sound disturbed the cat sleeping next to him, so he turned and murmured apologies to it. 

“That’s what everyone keeps telling me!” Caspar agreed. “So don’t spoil it once we get to it.” Ashe put his hand in the air. 

“On my honor as a not-quite-knight.” Caspar laughed as the two of them began pouring over the book. 

“I hope you weren’t too bored without us.” Sylvain said later that day as the Blue Lions sat at a table and ate a very late supper. Ingrid was not present, currently chatting with Dorothea and recuperating after the moderately jarring turn of events. 

“I wasn’t.” Ashe told him. “I read the notes Felix wrote, thanks for that, by the way,” Ashe conveniently didn’t notice the way Felix blushed as Ashe thanked him, though Sylvain and Annette did. “And then Caspar showed up and we read  _ Loog and the Maiden of Wind. _ He’d never even gotten to the ending before!” Sylvain gasped. 

“How could he?!” He said, though he himself had never bothered to finish  _ Loog and the Maiden of Wind.  _

“Exactly!” Ashe nodded. “I enjoyed having some company, so it’s a good thing he showed up.”

“Indeed.” Dimitri said with a ghost of a smirk. The Lions continued their chat, even allowing Caspar and Lindhart (who yet again claimed to be exhausted) to join in. Though Ashe’s injury had been terrifying and most definitely life-threatening, it seemed there was a bright side anyway. 


End file.
